Search form

Search this site

Search for

5 Easy Ways to Free Up Storage Space on Your iPhone

By Conner Careyupdated on 04/25/2016

Running out of storage is annoying. And unless you have a phone with lots of gigabytes, you’re likely going to run into this problem sooner or later. In the past when this has happened to me, I looked for the fastest and easiest way to free up some quick storage and move along. That means the simpler the tip, the better. There are multiple places on iPhone where storage is being used that you might not even consider; so here’s five easy way to free up space.

Master your iPhone in one minute a day:

Sign up to iPhone Life's Tip of the Day Newsletter and we'll send you a tip each day to save time and get the most out of your iPhone or iPad.

1. Delete Photos and Music You Don’t Need

I hesitated to include this, because it seems obvious. But it’s always a good first step when you need to clear storage. Music especially takes up a lot of space if you have a decent collection, and if you have Apple Music, there’s no need to keep everything downloaded on your phone. So do a quick check of photos and delete any you don’t want to keep. Then go to music and do the same. If you have Apple Music, consider removing downloads but keeping the song in your My Music collection. You’ll get the best of both worlds: extra storage and lots of music.

2. Delete Message Attachments

My friends and I love to send silly, funny pictures and gifs to each other constantly. If you receive a lot of messages with attachments, those pictures or videos are probably taking up a lot of storage without you realizing it. There are two ways to solve this. You can go to Settings, open Messages, and change your Message History to 30 days, OR open your Messages app and select a friend who you often exchange photos with via messages. Tap Details, then scroll down to see all of the Attachments. Press and hold a photo. The option to Copy, Delete, and More will pop-up. To select multiple photos to delete, tap More. Then select all the photos you want to delete and select the trashcan in the bottom corner.

3. Delete Apps That Take Up Too Much Storage

Just like you can see which apps are taking up a lot of battery, you can view which apps are taking up a lot of storage too. If you love and often use an app, it may be worth keeping even if it uses a decent chunk of space. However, if you have extraneous apps you don’t often use that are taking up space, deleting a few of them will give you a good boost. To do this, open Settings, tap General. Select Storage & iCloud Usage. Under Storage, tap Manage Storage. Here, you’ll see how much storage you have available and how much is being used, as well as how much each app is using. If apps you aren’t using are taking up space, tap on the app and select Delete App. If you do this for multiple apps, you’ll have gained a gigabyte of storage pretty easily.

4. Clear Browser Cache

To provide faster load times, Safari collects information on websites you often visit and saves data in the cache. But if you need some extra storage, this is an easy thing to clear. Open your Settings, tap Safari. Then select Clear History and Website Data. This will remove history, cookies, and other browsing data.

5. Turn Off HDR Photos

Did you know when your iPhone takes a photo it’s actually taking three? HDR (High Dynamic Range) is a Camera function that “blends the best parts of three separate exposures into a single photo.” It also saves the normally exposed photo and the HDR version. That means every time you take a photo, two are being created. If you don’t care whether or not you have the normal photo, you can turn this function off. Go to Settings. Tap Photos & Camera. Scroll to the bottom and toggle off Keep Normal Photo.

Top Image Credit: Jeramey Lende / Shutterstock.com

Master your iPhone in one minute a day: Sign up here to get our FREE Tip of the Day delivered right to your inbox.

Conner Carey holds a bachelor's in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing and resides in Fairfield, Iowa. When she's not writing, you can find her singing jazz or lifting weights. Her personal blog is currently under construction, but you can follow her on Instagram @connerleecarey.

Seamlessly set up and manage all of your company’s Apple devices with Jamf Now. This cloud-based mobile device management software allows you to remotely configure (everything from Wi-Fi settings to email accounts) all of the iPads, iPhone, and Mac computers at work. But it doesn’t stop with setup. Use Jamf Now to maintain your team’s productivity, whether it be adding apps for a smoother workflow or protecting the security of important devices your team needs and uses every day. With Jamf Now, one person can do in a day what would take a small team of people a week. Set up, manage, and protect all of your Apple devices with Jamf Now; get started for free today.

VideoBlocks is your premium source for high-definition video footage, After Effects templates, and motion backgrounds. For the content creator, a VideoBlocks subscription makes bringing your creative vision to life easier than ever before. VideoBlocks consistently releases new content that will allow your reservoir of incredible stock footage to continue to expand. Everything you download is included in your membership, so there are no additional fees. You can download as much as you want and use it royalty-free, forever! VideoBlocks is used and beloved by huge content creators, including National Geographic, NBC, the Travel Channel, and more. Join them today.